Drake joins forces with Creighton and Nike for marketing competition

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Drake University’s College of Business and Public Administration joined forces with Creighton University’s Heider College of Business for the first annual Murphy Cup—a marketing student case competition. This inaugural event was hosted by the Heider College of Business and held in Omaha at Creighton’s Harper Center, Feb. 6-8. Representatives of Nike, Inc. also attended the event to provide case information and participate as judges.

The Murphy Cup is the vision of Chris Murphy, JO’79, and a member of Creighton’s board of trustees. The competition featured senior marketing majors from both Drake and Creighton.

“We’ve designed this experience to be a highlight of these students’ college careers,” says Andrew Norman, associate professor of marketing at Drake and an event organizer.

Six four-person teams composed of two students from Creighton and two students from Drake competed against each other. The groups were designed to foster collaboration between students at the two universities.

Another key element of the event was the participation of Nike, the event’s corporate sponsor.

“It was Chris Murphy’s strong desire for the case competition to be based on a ‘live’ company and real-time information,” says Norman. “That led us to pursue Nike as the subject.”

At the competition, students were given a Harvard Business School case study. Nike executives attended the event, giving students a strategic challenge based on current initiatives at the company. Students spent the bulk of their time analyzing the case information and preparing a presentation where they made recommendations to an executive judging panel on the afternoon of Feb. 8.

The event also provided participants with networking opportunities. Students had the opportunity to interact with managers and executives from Nike and various Omaha-based corporations as well as faculty and college administrators.

“We anticipate that the students will form friendships and bonds with each other that will endure well into the future,” says Dr. Norman.

The final event of the weekend was a formal dinner and award ceremony. The top student team received a trophy and a cash prize. Individual awards were also given.

Drake University looks forward to hosting the Murphy Cup in Des Moines in 2015.